A memorable walk through military history

But also scattered through the cemetery are many who died during America’s wars, including 1,300 Civil War casualties.

These residents were the focus of the annual Memorial Day Walking Tour, led by Al Maze in his 11th year as tour guide in-residence at the cemetery.

Alyce Nicolo

But also scattered through the cemetery are many who died during America’s wars, including 1,300 Civil War casualties.

These residents were the focus of the annual Memorial Day Walking Tour, led by Al Maze in his 11th year as tour guide in-residence at the cemetery.

“Memorial Day isn’t what it used to be,” he said at the beginning of the tour. “Now it’s a three-day weekend and we have barbecues and drink beer. It’s sort of lost its meaning.”

The tour changes each year as Maze collects more stories, newspaper clippings, letters and photographs of notable residents and discovers more inscriptions and symbols at the gravesites.

“It’s about war and death, but that isn’t the focus [of the tour],” he explains. “It’s about the people, about who fought the war.”

Stopping at a dozen memorials, each marked by Maze with American flags, about 50 visitors weaved through the fragile headstones in the older part of the cemetery.

“The tour could go six hours and I still couldn’t tell all I wanted,” said Maze. “There are so many stories, it hurts to walk by some of the graves. It’s a struggle to boil it down.”

The crowd heard horror stories of Civil War POW camps, accounts of soldiers dying of disease and injuries that should have been treatable, and battles at sea gone awry.

“I read about these battles and it breaks my heart,” said Maze.

He cited the number of soldiers killed in action and died from disease during the Civil War: 324,000 on the Union side and 258,000 on the Confederate side. And that doesn’t include the number of missing, he added.

Maze stopped at the statue of a citizen soldier dedicated on Memorial Day, then Declaration Day, in 1868 to the soldiers from Roxbury who died or served in the “Rebellion of 1861.” He read out the names of those who died at the battle of Antietam and whose names are inscribed around the monument.

“It’s such a poignant statue,” said Maze, pointing out how the soldier’s head is hung and how his hand is placed over the end of his rifle, as if reflecting on the damage the weapon has done.

“It’s hard to believe all this killing, death and destruction took place in America,” said Maze, shaking his head.

Along the way, Maze also stopped to tell more positive stories of those who worked to end slavery and the war. He read letters written about Wilder Dwight, a general who died from injuries at Antietam, documenting Dwight’s compassion toward other injured soldiers and his brave acceptance of his death.

“He was from a wealthy family. He could’ve gotten someone to serve for him, but he actually went,” said Maze, standing in front of Dwight’s grave, a plaque in the side of a large piece of Roxbury puddingstone. “Wealthy young men going off to war; you don’t see that much these days.”

He told the stories of Samuel C. Pomeroy, a Massachusetts man who became a Kansas senator to help stop the spread of slavery, and the famous abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.

“Garrison is one of my favorite characters in American history,” said Maze. “At age 23, he began to take on slavery and at that time, it was not just thought of as a good thing throughout the South, but up here, too.”

Sculptures of forager caps topped many of the gravestones, which Maze explained were made out of marble because it was easier to carve. But as time goes on, the marble deteriorates and many of the stones have fallen victim to the New England weather.

“This is such an incredible place. It’s a place where they bury people, but it’s so alive,” said Maze.

“We organize these walks so people will discover this place,” said Forest Hills Trust director Cecily Miller. “For some, it’s a place for contemplation and healing, but for others, it’s a place for recreation. It’s a real oasis and sanctuary.”

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